My Favorite Souveni- Penelope Ward , Vi Keeland Page 0,12
safe flight tomorrow.”
“Yeah. You, too, Mads. Take care of yourself.”
She opened the door to her room and turned back to wave one last time. All I could think as I watched her disappear was, I hope like hell this storm sticks around a while longer.
Chapter 4
* * *
Hazel
Normally, I had no problem sleeping in. But this morning I’d been tossing and turning since six am, even though I hadn’t fallen asleep until almost one. I just couldn’t stop thinking about the way I’d felt up on that mountain last night—how exhilarated and alive I’d been. My heart had thumped inside my chest, and it made me realize how long it had been since I’d felt that kind of excitement. It was as if I’d been dead the last few years, only no one had told me to lie down and call it a day.
Oddly enough, it hadn’t even been Hazel Appleton who had awoken. It was Maddie Hooker. The entire evening, starting with the crazy hotel check-in, had been more excitement than I’d experienced in a long time. And that said a lot.
Two months ago, I’d believed I was perfectly happy. Had Brady not done what he did, I’d likely be on my honeymoon with him at this very moment. That thought didn’t sit well with my stomach for so many reasons now. So many questions ran through my head.
Would I have been happy if Brady hadn’t canceled the wedding and we’d gotten married?
How could one night—a few hours with a random stranger—make me feel more alive than I’d felt over the last few years with a man I supposedly loved?
Did I love Brady?
Or did I love the idea of Brady?
Where did I go from here? Did I move back to Connecticut and slip back into my comfy life, taking pictures of runny-nosed school kids for the next forty years?
A sense of panic came over me at that thought, and I had to sit up in bed and whip the covers off.
God, I felt a little nauseous.
I needed to stop lying in bed and ruminating over my life. I also really needed to figure out what the heck was going on with my canceled flights. The airline had told me to check my confirmation number online, and eventually all passengers would be rescheduled onto new flights. So I reached over to the nightstand to grab my phone. When I signed in, I found they’d put me on a two o’clock flight connecting through Atlanta, instead of the direct one I’d had before. Though it probably wasn’t a good sign that the airline’s website had a bright red flashing weather alert, warning that there could be delays and cancelations again today.
I sighed and dragged my ass out of bed, off in search of some caffeine.
Downstairs, I grabbed two cups of the complimentary lobby coffee. I thought I might listen at Milo’s hotel room door and deliver one to him if I heard any signs that he was awake. It was the least I could do after all the trouble he’d gone to last night.
I didn’t even have to put my ear to the door to hear the television blaring in his room. I knocked lightly. After a minute or two went by, I figured maybe he was out already or slept with the TV on. But just as I turned toward my room, Milo’s door opened.
“H…” I never made it past the first consonant.
Oh.
Jesus.
Oh my.
Milo stood in the doorway wearing nothing but a white towel wrapped around his waist. Droplets of water ran down his chest…his very carved chest.
I swallowed.
“Sorry,” he said, running a hand through his wet hair. “I was in the shower.”
God, he had the most amazing body I’d ever seen. His shoulders were broad, his chest lean and sculpted, and his skin was perfectly smooth and tanned. Not to mention, that towel hugged the most delicious V.
“Uhh. Shower, right.”
I blinked a few times and forced my gaze to meet his before I got caught staring. But the cocky smirk and the glint in his eyes told me that ship had sailed. He’d totally watched me ogle him.
Milo folded his arms across his chest, and his smirk widened to a full-blown smile. “How did you sleep?”
“I…uh…slept.”
Seeming amused, he chuckled. He looked down to the two coffee cups in my hands. “Not much of a talker before you have your morning coffee?”